Improved paint for bituminous roofing fabrics



' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED ROBINSON, OF NEW YORK,.N. Y.

IMPROVED PAINT FOR BITUMINOUS ROOFING FABRICS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 45,275, datedNOVUIIIXI' 29, 1864.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED ROBINSON, of 73 Maiden Lane, in the city,county, and State of New York, have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Bituminous Roofing Fabrics; and I do hereby declare thatthe follow ing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

This invention relates to all that class of water-proof fabrics forcovering roofs which are generally knownas bituminous composition, orcement roofingthat is to say, composed of cloth, paper, felt, or otherfibrous web saturated or coated with any preparation containing bitumen,asphalt-um, pitch, mineral or vegetable tar, or substances of a similarnature.

The principal objection hitherto urged against these fabrics for roofingpurposes has been their black color. Some attempts have been made toremedy this objection by coating the fabrics with powdered soapstone orsand; but after exposure to the weather these substances are soonremoved or the black composition comes through them. The fabrics have insome cases been coated with oil-paints of a desirable color, afterhaving been applied and secured tothe roof 5 but the menstruum of thesepaints is absorbed by the bituminous compound without drying, and thecoloringmatter soon washed off from the surface by rain.

\Vith a view to remedy these defects in the ordinary bituminous rootin gfabrics, and to obviate the necessity of painting them after theirapplication to a roof, my invention consists in the manufacture of sucha fabric with a surface of any desirable color. The means or method bywhich I produce this resultis as follows:

I take naphtha, benzine, turpentine, or other suitableliquidhydrocarbon, and, having mixed in a proper amount of Spanish brown,Venetian red, or other pigment, apply the mixture to the surface of theroofing fabric While sufficiently warm to enable the naphtha ormenstruum used to take hold of or unite with the bituminous preparation.The naphtha, or substance used instead, readily acts as a partialsolvent of the bituminous particlesimmediately in contact, and these, inthis condition, being very sticky, adhere to the coloring-matterscontained in the menstruum,which soon evaporates, leaving the colorsadhering to the surface of the bituminous preparation. No commonpaint-oil will act in this manner. A better adhesion of the pigment maybe obtained by dissolving in the menstruum asmall amount-say one-tenthpart by weightof bitumen, rosin, gum, or gum-resin.

The coloring-coating may be applied with a brush, or by any othersuitable means, to the surface of the bituminous fabric while thelatteris in the piece, and quickly dries, so that the piece may be rolled upfor the market.

What I claim as my invention as a new article of manufacture, and desireto secure by Letters Patent, is

A bituminous roofing fabric having its surface made of any suitablecolor, substantially as herein described.

ALFRED ROBINSON.

Witnesses:

HENRY T. BROWN, GEO. XV. REED.

